Mason Plumlee Traded to Portland Trail Blazers in 4-Player Deal

The Brooklyn Nets sent Mason Plumlee and Pat Connaughton—the 41st overall pick in the 2015 draft—to the Portland Trail Blazers for Steve Blake and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, whom the Blazers took at 23, per Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

Tim Bontemps of the New York Post believes the deal only strengthens the idea that Lopez will stay with Brooklyn this summer.

The trade doesn't come as a big surprise. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported Tuesday the Nets were continuing to "explore trade possibilities" for Plumlee before the NBA draft began.

Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News first reported on June 15 that the Nets were shopping around Plumlee in an effort to move up in this year's draft. The Nets currently have the 29th pick in the first round and the 41st overall pick in the second round.

Plumlee, 25, had an up-and-down season for the Nets. He averaged 8.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game, but at times he appeared to be emerging as a very good player—though at other points he was an uninspiring role player for the team.

He certainly made the most of his increased minutes in December and January, averaging 12.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in December and 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in January, though he couldn't maintain that level of play throughout the year.

A major issue for Plumlee was the fact that Lopez plays in his preferred position, center, while Plumlee simply isn't as effective at the 4. Because of that, keeping both players in Brooklyn didn't seem to make a ton of sense, especially when Plumlee can garnered some nice assets in a trade.